SAKURAGelly Roll Moonlight 10 Gel Pens - Bold Ink Pen for Journaling, Art, or Drawing - Assorted Earth & Jewel Tone Ink - Bold Line - 10 Pack

I was so excited to be able to try out and review the new “vivid, earth colors” palette of Sakura Moonlight Gelly Roll pens. I have been using Gelly Roll pens for many years, for scrapbooking, journaling and Zentangle art. I absolutely ADORE these pens, especially the Metallic and Moonlight lines and the white pens.The Sakura Gelly Roll brand of gel pens flows very smoothly and nicely onto whatever paper I happen to be using, from cheap notebook paper (see my photos) to pricier cardstock and mixed media paper. Unlike cheaper competitors, these pens don’t skip or spit out splotches of color when you least expect it. Instead, they produce a nice, steady, and predictable flow of ink, and I really appreciate that! I will also note that there was no bleed through of any of these colors, even on my cheap pieces of notebook paper.In addition to being “earthy,” I would describe the colors in this set as being a little more muted or toned down than the other brighter and more highly saturated colors in the Moonlight series. Each new color is beautiful and unique.I like the relatively small size and narrowness of the Gelly Roll pens, which makes them easy to fit in any type of pen holder (no wasted space). I also like the translucent pen barrels which allow you to keep tabs on how much ink you have left.One little “nitpicking” complaint I have about Sakura pens in general is that they don’t print the color names and numbers on the barrels of their pens. Given the wide range of colors of Gelly Roll pens, it can sometimes get confusing when trying to reorder and replace specific colors.For the photos in this review, I assigned each pen a color name that I made up, so that you would be able to see how the same color looks on white versus black paper. It should be noted that, when writing on black paper, the ink of a few of these colors (e.g., the taupe and the blue) did not show up while I was writing. Instead, I had to wait a minute or two for the ink to dry before I could see what I wrote. I think that most of these colors look a shade or two lighter on black paper as compared to white, but they are clearly vibrant and visible on both white and black. Additionally, I tried them out on 2 shades of kraft paper, and am happy to report that they show up nicely on toned paper as well.I prefer the bold nib size of Gelly Roll pens because it maximizes their visibility and opacity on paper. I am able to print, draw, and outline with these pens as well as precisely color within the lines. I just need to remember to give them a minute to dry since they go on like paint and can smear if you’re not careful (being left-handed only makes matters worse!)All in all, I LOVE LOVE LOVE these pens and highly recommend them!!!

As shown in the photo I provided, I did my best attempt to do a little test of all the gel pens.I found the pink/peach to appear more of a muted orange in person, even on just white paper. All of the other colors were pretty similar to their caps. If anyone is curious, the gold/yellow is very much matte and not a metallic gold, so are all other colors as advertised. The dark blue, dark purple, and gray are overall the most opaque, while all the other colors are pretty transparent. Don't expect these to be the same as paint pens in terms of opacity, because they are a completely different thing.The first test on the top is a very concentrated black watercolor - because I plan to use these on top of my watercolors to add details, but keep in mind the results will vary with different colors and different opacities. I should also mention that I didn't realize until I started using it that the sharpie test used below was with a almost dried out sharpie. The test was done on cold press Arches watercolor paper and while I did not experience any bleeding, results will vary with different papers.I found the consistency to be very nice so far, it comes out very smoothly and easily. The consistency does differ with different types and textures of paper that you use, the pens on smoother paper will come out slightly better and so on.However - I have owned several white gel pens from this brand that all started to get weaker the more I use it, so I'm expecting the same from these. If I notice that they stop working significantly faster, I will update this review. Sakura seems to have really good budget art supplies from what I've purchased from them in the past, I feel that you can't find much better with this specific price range in general with this brand.Typically - these gel pens dry pretty fast on paper, but not instantly. They can be slightly smudged within a few seconds of being used.For a little over $1.20 each, they are only slightly cheaper than I get at the craft store. But I do really like this brand compared to others and find this to be a nice assortment of pens. I would recommend.

These are some interesting pens - they leave a very heavy/dense line of ink. You can actually run your finger across it (after it dries - more on this later), and you can feel the lines are actually raised off the paper.The colors in this particular pack are rather unique - probably best-suited for use on darker paper - not white paper like I was using for my testing. There are some browns, blues, greens, etc. I used the darker blue for my handwriting test.I initially just grabbed a sheet of scrap paper that was on my desk and started writing. I could see that it wasn't drying very quickly and I then realized that the paper I chose was a sheet of heavy photo paper. I tried again with a sheet of normal office copy paper and it still wasn't drying very quickly. On the regular office paper, I wrote the entire sentence(s) shown, capped the pen, waited maybe 10-15 seconds, and then tried wiping my finger across the top line of text. It smudges even after that length of time. I can visibly see that it stays wet for some time after writing.For the above reasons I am giving these 4 stars - slow drying time can be annoying - especially if you are a lefty (which I am not). Aside from the lengthy drying time, these pens are quite nice and it's a pleasure to write with them.

I’ve been using gelly rolls since middle school, so I wasn’t surprised at the quality. I personally love the first 6 colors, and not really a huge fan of the darker colors. When I use gel pens I’m trying to make something POP with color, so that’s the only reason I took off a star. These work much better than the white ones from the same brand, it was very smooth and easy when testing them. Would recommend for the price!

overall very nice pens. easy to use and feels nice to hold. easy storage of them too. aren't bulky at all whatsoever like others I've had in the past.